Guide words at the top of the dictionary page

either one of the words that are at the top of a page in a dictionary or similar book and that show the first and last words on the page It is easiest to use the guide words to find the page for the word you are looking up.

Thesaurus Entries Near guide words

Cite this Entry

“Guide words.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/guide%20words. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.

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The idea that jazz has become a catchword for pomposity is painful for those of us who care deeply about this music.

• Whenever we take up a new idea as a crowd, we at once turn it into a catchword and a fad.
• It used to be a catchword of naval correspondents that "submarine cannot fight submarine."
• “Unclean,” he muttered, recalling a catchword of the world he gazed upon.
• Despots obtain their mastery over the crowd by the sword: demagogues by the catchword.
• A man who has done that has seen England--not the name or the map or the rhetorical catchword, but the thing.

British Dictionary definitions for catchword

noun

1. a word or phrase made temporarily popular, esp by a political campaign; slogan
2. a word printed as a running head in a reference book

1. theatre an actor's cue to speak or enter
2. the first word of a printed or typewritten page repeated at the bottom of the page preceding

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

: either of the terms at the head of a page of an alphabetical reference work (such as a dictionary) indicating the alphabetically first and last words on the page

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1928, in the meaning defined

Time Traveler

The first known use of guide word was circa 1928

Dictionary Entries Near guide word

Cite this Entry

“Guide word.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/guide%20word. Accessed 29 Dec. 2023.

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More from Merriam-Webster on guide word

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What are the words at the top of the dictionary page?

Also called headword, guide word. a word printed at the top of a page in a dictionary or other reference book to indicate the first or last entry or article on that page.: Compare running head.

What is the head word and guide word?

The guide words are the words that are at the very top of each page of the dictionary, but each entry on the dictionary has a head word, that is the word that is being defined, and the head word has got dots placed amongst its letters.

What is a guide word example?

For example, if the guide words are horseback and houseboat, a sentence might read "They rode on horseback to the houseboat at the lake." Give students a list of ten to 20 words. Have students find the words in the dictionary and locate the guide words.